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skylerher's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Physical abuse, Bullying, and Eating disorder
Minor: Misogyny and Gun violence
anastasia_raf's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I've just finished this book. Like, literally not five minutes have passed and I'm already trying to process everything so I can write a somewhat decent review. It's not the perfect book in any way. I found it lacking in many things and some problematic,for me, stuff... But,
The truth is words fail me. I think this book has said everything. My darkest thoughts, my lowest days, my reality. As a pessimist I identified very much with Tori. While thinking she's not the best person but not the worst? I identified to her in a entirely "human" way. Like is anyone truly bad or entirely good? Who's to judge that? Without having undertaking the circumstances, sympathizing with many factors and justifying many actions?
What breaks me is the " having noticed, expected it but didn't do anything." How many have I thought of that? How many times have other people thought of that? Yet again I wonder if s*ic*de is such an illogical action? Not to say that this book romanticizes it or anything... But as a depressed person with s*ic*da* thoughts I wonder why people take such pleasure in hearing a person thirst and will to live, and such horror in hearing the opposite? Since when one become normalized and the other an illness? Since when is wanting to leave all this pain behind, the hating, racist, homophobic, all in all messed up society- considered a sin, a sickness, selfish... and wanting to live in that very society is praised?
Since when it's okay to ask people to stay just because you love them, you need them even though they are in incredible pain? And when a person decides to not stay because of that very pain is selfish????
It's always "it's your life, do what you will with it," but your de*th? Is not yours. It's the universe's, your god's, your illness's, your fate's...
This book hugs me in a way of saying that not that everything is going to be okay, but I'm here to read me when they are not, because they're not.
The truth is words fail me. I think this book has said everything. My darkest thoughts, my lowest days, my reality. As a pessimist I identified very much with Tori. While thinking she's not the best person but not the worst? I identified to her in a entirely "human" way. Like is anyone truly bad or entirely good? Who's to judge that? Without having undertaking the circumstances, sympathizing with many factors and justifying many actions?
What breaks me is the " having noticed, expected it but didn't do anything." How many have I thought of that? How many times have other people thought of that? Yet again I wonder if s*ic*de is such an illogical action? Not to say that this book romanticizes it or anything... But as a depressed person with s*ic*da* thoughts I wonder why people take such pleasure in hearing a person thirst and will to live, and such horror in hearing the opposite? Since when one become normalized and the other an illness? Since when is wanting to leave all this pain behind, the hating, racist, homophobic, all in all messed up society- considered a sin, a sickness, selfish... and wanting to live in that very society is praised?
Since when it's okay to ask people to stay just because you love them, you need them even though they are in incredible pain? And when a person decides to not stay because of that very pain is selfish????
It's always "it's your life, do what you will with it," but your de*th? Is not yours. It's the universe's, your god's, your illness's, your fate's...
This book hugs me in a way of saying that not that everything is going to be okay, but I'm here to read me when they are not, because they're not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcohol, Death, Misogyny, and Vomit
martapsalvado's review
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I don't know how to objectively review Solitaire for itself because this is my 7th Alice Oseman book and I absolutely loved with all my heart the first six: Radio Silence, Loveless and the Heartstopper series (which is my whole personality at this point). So, it's understandable that my expectations were high for this one. On top of that, I was already attached to some of the characters because of Heartstopper.
The truth is, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the other ones. But I still really, really liked it.
The characters are as always, very well constructed, cohesive and interesting. The plot had its ups and downs. It felt like nothing happened for a while and then too much happened at once. But that's how reality is sometimes, I guess.
Essentially, I think this is a good (and important) book and it actually made me feel something, but it makes sense that this is Alice's first published book, written when she was only seventeen, because the evolution is clear.
The truth is, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the other ones. But I still really, really liked it.
The characters are as always, very well constructed, cohesive and interesting. The plot had its ups and downs. It felt like nothing happened for a while and then too much happened at once. But that's how reality is sometimes, I guess.
Essentially, I think this is a good (and important) book and it actually made me feel something, but it makes sense that this is Alice's first published book, written when she was only seventeen, because the evolution is clear.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Mental illness
Moderate: Violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Alcohol
Minor: Bullying, Outing, Misogyny, and Forced institutionalization
robinskye28's review against another edition
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Charming story about teenagers with loveable characters, while still exploring more serious themes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Eating disorder
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Self harm, Ableism, Homophobia, and Misogyny
Content warning list can be found here: https://aliceoseman.com/extras/content-warnings/sydneyluxford's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I literally have no strong opinions about this book.
For most of the book I was quite confused and I literally had no idea what was happening. Oseman kind of just skipped over things that I wanted to know more about. Solitaire kind of just appeared out of nowhere and I literally had no clue what it was (I still don’t really know).
Tori Spring was such a relatable character. Her and I both go to grammar schools, we’re both seventeen, we both hate school, and we both lowkey want to die… Her inner monologues were really fun and interesting to read.
One thing I also didn’t get was Tori and Michael’s relationship. Everything at the end felt really rushed and throughout the whole book I felt no romantic connection between the two but then all of a sudden they’re kissing and saying I love you’ ?
Also the ending??????????????????????? I am so baffled. Was there a fire or not? I literally have no idea.
This review seems really negative, I did enjoy the book a lot but it was just confusing.
For most of the book I was quite confused and I literally had no idea what was happening. Oseman kind of just skipped over things that I wanted to know more about. Solitaire kind of just appeared out of nowhere and I literally had no clue what it was (I still don’t really know).
Tori Spring was such a relatable character. Her and I both go to grammar schools, we’re both seventeen, we both hate school, and we both lowkey want to die… Her inner monologues were really fun and interesting to read.
One thing I also didn’t get was Tori and Michael’s relationship. Everything at the end felt really rushed and throughout the whole book I felt no romantic connection between the two but then all of a sudden they’re kissing and saying I love you’ ?
This review seems really negative, I did enjoy the book a lot but it was just confusing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Self harm
Moderate: Misogyny
shushkeepitdown's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I recently got into reading the heart stopper comics and even watched the show so I thought huh I should read the rest of Alice Osmen's works. This was not what I expected. Heart stopper definitely has its triggers but this was quite not what I expected. I initially didn't like Tori, she felt like an edgy teen who just wanted to hate the world with no other reason than everyone sucks but slowly it felt like looking at a mirror for when I was just her age. Cynical and hateful for everything and then regretting everything after i lost it. This story is not a love story, it's a story about reflection and being alive even if you don't want to. I loved the characters. I hope one day I can meet someone just like Micheal who is willing to be angry with me when I'm an asshole but still willing to pick up my calls and help me when I need them. Overall a story I would definitely suggest you read. A good read, can be a bit confusing sometimes. Also it has characters from other books so it might be a little confusing if you don't read in order but I didn't have that as an issue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Bullying, Eating disorder, Grief, Homophobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Misogyny
Minor: Cursing and Blood
oliviaangelixx's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Cursing
Moderate: Homophobia and Self harm
Minor: Gaslighting and Misogyny
snowhitereads's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
As you all probably know by now, I absolutely love the Heartstopper series. I particularly love Tori, the sister of Heartstopper's main character, Charlie, so I knew I had to pick this one up
The book focuses on Tori Spring, who is an extremely pessimistic teenager and hates just about everything. Although I love Tori in Heartstopper, I did find her frustrating in this book.
Though Heartstopper features the same characters, this book felt so completely different in terms of tone and character personalities that it might as well have been an entirely different series.
Even though this book is very easy to read, unfortunately the plot and character development felt underdeveloped and confusing, very surface level.
The ending was abrupt and left me feeling confused at what I had just read. I don't know what to think about this book.
It’s important to note that there should be so many trigger warnings surrounding this book. There are a lot of dark things that are addressed, such as eating disorders, self-harm and depression.Besides that, there are constant HP references which drove me crazy.
Overall, it's not terrible, but you can definitely tell this is a debut by a 17 year old.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
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